In the wake of an unexpectedly tight election that compelled his party to form a coalition government, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was getting ready to take the oath of office on Thursday for a third term.
A landslide victory was anticipated by Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had ruled with an absolute majority for the previous ten years.
However, the six-week election results, which were announced on Tuesday, defied exit poll predictions, with the BJP losing its majority and being forced to hold urgent negotiations to forge a coalition that would enable it to form government.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition, which consists of 15 members, declared late on Wednesday that they have decided to form a government.
According to an alliance statement released by the BJP, “we all unanimously choose respected NDA leader Narendra Modi as our leader.”
With 293 seats in parliament, the coalition controls the body with 543 seats. According to reports in Indian media, Modi will take office as prime minister on Saturday.
Analysts predicted that Modi would have a much more difficult third term because of his reliance on coalition partners.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a biographer of Modi, stated, “It will force Modi to take the point of view of others—we shall see more democracy and a healthy parliament.”
“We will need to see a new Modi; he will have to be a leader that he has never been.”
“A new phase in development”
Although Modi has to contend with a more convoluted domestic political landscape, he has garnered the admiration of foreign leaders.
US President Joe Biden congratulated Modi and the State Department said that the US planned to collaborate with the Hindu nationalist leader on a “free and open” Asia following the coalition’s victory.
On X, the former Twitter, Biden tweeted, “The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.”
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, congratulated him as well.
Macron tweeted on X, “Together we will continue strengthening the strategic partnership that unites India and France.”
China’s rival expressed its readiness to collaborate with its neighbor and congratulated Modi.
Along with Britain’s Rishi Sunak, who became the nation’s first Hindu prime minister, and European Union chief Charles Michel, Russia and Japan also praised the victory.
Tuesday night, Modi, 73, asserted that the election results were a victory that guaranteed he would carry out his plan.
After winning, Modi addressed a raucous group of supporters in the nation’s capital, New Delhi, saying, “Our third term will be one of big decisions and the country will write a new chapter of development.” “Modi guarantees this.”
Some newspapers presented a less enthusiastic picture.
The opposition stronghold state of West Bengal’s The Telegraph newspaper splashed the headline, “India cuts Modi down,” across its front page.
India’s Mint newspaper had the headline, “Coalition Karma.”
Exit surveys and commentators predicted that Modi, whom detractors claim is responsible for jailing opposition leaders and violating the rights of India’s Muslim community, which numbers more than 200 million, would win handily.
However, the BJP only managed to win 240 seats in the legislature, far fewer than the 303 it did five years prior, and it is still 32 seats shy of a majority.
In an astonishing turnabout, the main opposition Congress party gained 99 members, nearly doubling its 52 MPs from 2019.
According to Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress party, the outcome was a vote against Modi “and the substance and style of his politics.”
He informed party leaders at a meeting of the opposition alliance, “Apart from being a clear moral defeat as well, it is a huge political loss for him personally.”
With a far smaller margin of 152,300 votes, Modi was personally re-elected to his seat representing the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. This is in contrast to almost 500,000 votes cast five years prior.
